%0 Journal Article %J Ecology Letters %D 2015 %T Plant diversity predicts beta but not alpha diversity of soil microbes across grasslands worldwide %A Prober, S.M. %A Leff, J.W. %A Bates, S.T. %A E.T. Borer %A Firn, J. %A Harpole, W.S. %A Lind, E.M. %A Seabloom, E.W. %A P. Adler %A J.D. Bakker %A E.E Cleland %A DeCrappeo, N.M. %A DeLorenze, E. %A Hagenah, N. %A Hautier, Y. %A Hofmockel, K.S. %A Kirkman, K.P. %A Knops, J.M.H. %A Kimberly J. La Pierre %A MacDougall, A.S. %A McCulley, R.L. %A Mitchell, C.E. %A A. Risch %A Schuetz, M. %A Stevens, C.J. %A Williams, R.J. %A Fierer, N. %X

Aboveground–belowground interactions exert critical controls on the composition and function of terrestrial ecosystems, yet the fundamental relationships between plant diversity and soil microbial diversity remain elusive. Theory predicts predominantly positive associations but tests within single sites have shown variable relationships, and associations between plant and microbial diversity across broad spatial scales remain largely unexplored. We compared the diversity of plant, bacterial, archaeal and fungal communities in one hundred and forty-five 1 m2 plots across 25 temperate grassland sites from four continents. Across sites, the plant alpha diversity patterns were poorly related to those observed for any soil microbial group. However, plant beta diversity (compositional dissimilarity between sites) was significantly correlated with the beta diversity of bacterial and fungal communities, even after controlling for environmental factors. Thus, across a global range of temperate grasslands, plant diversity can predict patterns in the composition of soil microbial communities, but not patterns in alpha diversity.

%B Ecology Letters %V 18 %P 85 -95 %G eng %U https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ele.12381 %M KNZ001678 %R 10.1111/ele.12381 %0 Journal Article %J Ecology %D 2008 %T Scale-dependent responses of plant biodiversity to nitrogen enrichment %A Chalcraft, D.R. %A Cox, S.B. %A Clark, C.M. %A E.E Cleland %A K.N. Suding %A Weiher, E. %A Pennington, D. %X Experimental studies demonstrating that nitrogen (N) enrichment reduces plant diversity within individual plots have led to the conclusion that anthropogenic N enrichment is a threat to global biodiversity. These conclusions overlook the influence of spatial scale, however, as N enrichment may alter β diversity (i.e., how similar plots are in their species composition), which would likely alter the degree to which N-induced changes in diversity within localities translate to changes in diversity at larger scales that are relevant to policy and management. Currently, it is unclear how N enrichment affects biodiversity at scales larger than a small plot. We synthesized data from 18 N-enrichment experiments across North America to examine the effects of N enrichment on plant species diversity at three spatial scales: small (within plots), intermediate (among plots), and large (within and among plots). We found that N enrichment reduced plant diversity within plots by an average of 25% (ranging from a reduction of 61% to an increase of 5%) and frequently enhanced β diversity. The extent to which N enrichment altered β diversity, however, varied substantially among sites (from a 22% increase to an 18% reduction) and was contingent on site productivity. Specifically, N enrichment enhanced β diversity at low-productivity sites but reduced β diversity at high-productivity sites. N-induced changes in β diversity generally reduced the extent of species loss at larger scales to an average of 22% (ranging from a reduction of 54% to an increase of 18%). Our results demonstrate that N enrichment often reduces biodiversity at both local and regional scales, but that a focus on the effects of N enrichment on biodiversity at small spatial scales may often overestimate (and sometimes underestimate) declines in regional biodiversity by failing to recognize the effects of N on β diversity. %B Ecology %V 89 %P 2165 -2171 %G eng %M KNZ001226 %R 10.1890/07-0971.1